Mid-Day Gold & Silver Market Report, 8/6/2012

Brandi Brundidge

8/6/2012 12:10:00 PM

GOLD PRICE ON THE RISE; CHINA ADDS TO STOCKPILE  

As the week begins, so does the rise in Gold prices. With reports coming out at the end of last week showing another rise in the United States jobless rate, the talk of more monetary easing from the Federal Reserve continues. “There is still room for easing if it is required, and there is still a perception that it may be required,” said David Jollie, an analyst with Mitsui Precious Metals. Another factor in the Precious Metals market is the high demand from China. Even though shipments of Gold went down in the last month, China is still on pace to overtake India as the world’s largest Gold market. “Although this was down on the previous month’s figure, it was well above the year on year level,” Commerzbank said in a note. “In the first half year, China thus imported 382.79 tons of Gold from Hong Kong, following a figure of 64.95 tons in the same period last year.”

In Europe, it may be a new week, but the news remains the same. There are many opinions on the best way to deal with the economic crisis in the region, but there are no signs of unity. While the European Central Bank has promised action, that will be next to impossible if the ECB does not have the support of the countries involved. While some of the nations are prepared to act, others seem to be lagging behind. “The Spanish seemed to think they could get a free ride from the ECB without conditions. That was never going to happen,” said a senior eurozone policymaker, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Reports in the United States are showing that productivity in the workforce is down. One expert said he believes that is the best case scenario at this time. “The only reason 1.7 percent GDP growth can go with 1 percent jobs growth is because productivity growth is less than 1 percent,” said Robert Gordon, a Northwestern University economics professor. These numbers, while not ideal, have created a drop in unemployment benefits claims over the last year.

At 1 p.m. (EDT), the APMEX Precious Metals spot prices were:

• Gold, $1,613.70, Up $6.40.
• Silver, $28.00, Up $0.09.
• Platinum, $1,404.00, Down $10.40.
• Palladium, $581.10, Up $1.90.

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